sorryvsSprayTell them apart

Quick tell: sorry is a intj, Spray is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sorry” is an intj and “Spray” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,789
“sorry” frequency rank
#24,518
“Spray” frequency rank
26307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sorry Spray
Definition Entschuldigung! Flüssigkeit, die mit einem Gerät in feinsten Teilchen versprüht, zerstäubt wird

Where the eye mixes sorry and Spray

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sorry
5 ch
Spray

Visual trap between sorry and Spray

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sorry is [ˈzɔʁi] while Spray is [ʃpʁɛɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sorry is recorded at frequency rank #1,789, classified as anintj, pronounced [ˈzɔʁi]. Spray is at rank #24,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁɛɪ̯].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 26307, this pair ranks #1,820,113 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sorry vs Spray

Shared letters: rsy. Private to "sorry": o. Private to "Spray": ap.

"sorry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Spray" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sorryosrry · sorryy · sory · soryr · srory · ssorry
  • Spraypsray · spary · sppray · sprayy · sprray · sprya · srpay · sspray

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sorry" and "Spray" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sorry" is an intj and "Spray" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sorry" vs "Spray" - which ranks higher?
"sorry" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,789 in our German list, against #24,518 for "Spray". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "sorry" and "Spray" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sorry" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,820,113 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sorry" and "Spray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spray vs Spreu". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,820,113 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list